[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 244 (Friday, December 19, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Page 75794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-29716]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers


Closing Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock to Navigation, Located in 
Minneapolis, MN

AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DOD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Section 2010 of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act 
of 2014 (WRRDA) directed the Secretary of the Army to close the Upper 
St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam located on the Mississippi River at 
river mile 853.9 no later than 1 year after the enactment date of WRRDA 
2014. The provision specifically allows the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers to continue to carry out emergency lock operations necessary 
to mitigate flood damage. The WRRDA was enacted on June 10, 2014. To 
comply with WRRDA, the Corps will close Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock to 
navigation by June 10, 2015. The final closure date will be determined, 
within the statutory deadline, after the environmental analysis 
required by the National Environmental Policy Act is complete.

DATES: The Draft Environmental Assessment for this lock closure action 
will be available for public comment through January 23, 2015. The 
public notice and a link to the Environmental Assessment can be found 
at: http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Home/PublicNotices.aspx.

ADDRESSES: Questions concerning the Draft Environmental Assessment can 
be addressed to Mr. Elliott Stefanik, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 180 
Fifth Street East, Suite 700, St. Paul, MN 55101-1678, or by email at 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Jeffrey McKee at Corps of 
Engineers Headquarters in Washington, DC, by phone at 202-761-8648.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The legal authority for the regulation 
governing the use, administration, and navigation of the Upper St. 
Anthony Falls lock is Section 4 of the River and Harbor Act of August 
18, 1894 (28 Stat. 362), as amended, which is codified at 33 U.S.C. 
Section 1. This statute requires the Secretary of the Army to 
``prescribe such regulations for the use, administration, and 
navigation of the navigable waters of the United States'' as the 
Secretary determines may be required by public necessity. Reference 33 
CFR 207.300, Mississippi River above Cairo, Ill., and their 
tributaries; use, administration, and navigation.

Brenda S. Bowen,
Army Federal Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-29716 Filed 12-18-14; 8:45 am]
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